Lady Gone Wicked (Wicked Secrets)(44)

Adelaide returned the sentiment. “That is kind of you to say, but I think you would be disappointed,” she said gently. “I don’t think I can make him happy.”

“I think you could.” Lady Freesia turned serious. “It is not so hard. He only wants to be loved. He has been forced to take care of himself for so long, he doesn’t know how to ask for what he wants. He just needs a woman to love him through his wicked moments and bring him a tart when his mood is foul. A little kindness, that’s all he needs.”

Adelaide jerked in surprise. She hadn’t realized Lady Freesia had been watching.

“But you seem to understand that,” the other woman said softly. “It’s his most secret desire, I think, to be loved by a lady who is sweet and good and kind—all the things he is not. I think that lady is you, Miss Bursnell.”

Adelaide’s eyes filled. Oh, dear. Oh, dear. “But I am not good,” she whispered.

Lady Freesia considered that. “Adelaide—may I call you that? It seems ridiculous to stand on ceremony at this point. Anyway, we all have secrets, and I’m sure you have yours. But I still hope to have you for a sister, and I’ll help you in any way I can.”

“But…why?”

“Because I can.” Silk rustled as Freesia shrugged her shoulders. “I like to do what I can, I suppose, because there are so many things I cannot.”

Strange girl. And yet… “I know just what you mean,” Adelaide said.

“Good.” Freesia squeezed her hand. “Shall we go down? I daresay they have eaten all the cake without us.”

“That would be impossible.”

“One can always hope.” Freesia paused. “Perhaps I’ll see if Nate is in his study first. Go on without me, and I’ll be along in a moment.”

Adelaide nodded. She parted ways with Freesia in the long hallway, moving toward the stairs. As she passed a closet, she heard…a sound.

She stopped.

There it was again, coming from the closet—a low, groaning sound. The kind of sound a man made when he was in pain and rather enjoying it.

Good Lord.

She knew that sound.

She stared at the door.

She should not. She knew she should not. It was none of her affair what went on behind a closed door.

But she pressed her ear against the wood anyway.

There was a rhythmic pounding, as though a body was pressed repeatedly against a wall, followed by a groan and a feminine cry.

She stepped back hastily, spun around, and swiftly tiptoed to the stairs, her heart thumping hard in her breast.

She stood in the room of cakes and tried to catch her stuttering breath. The low hum of voices wafted from the parlor, where her mother and father enjoyed their tea with Lord and Lady Wintham, all of whom were unaware of the impropriety going on in the closet.

A moment later Adelaide was joined by Freesia.

“I couldn’t find them anywhere,” she whispered. “Do you think they escaped to the garden?”

“No,” Adelaide said.

Freesia frowned. “Where— Ah, here they are now.”

Adelaide turned slowly.

And there was her dear sister, looking flushed and rumpled. Her dress was wrinkled, her curls askew, her mouth red and swollen. But it was the happiness in her eyes, the sated smile on her lips, that turned Adelaide’s belly to lead.

Alice, Adelaide knew with dead certainty, would not be abandoned by her lover. She would not find herself with child and without a husband. No, those misfortunes would not touch her, for Alice was deeply, thoroughly, wholeheartedly, unbearably loved.

And Adelaide hated her.

She picked up a piece of cake.





Chapter Thirty-Two


Nick arrived just in time to see Adelaide deliberately press chocolate cake into Alice’s face. For a moment, Alice seemed too stunned to speak. She stood there, frozen, her mouth gaping in shock. Then all at once she darted into action, lunging for a square of white cake. While Nick watched in horror, she hurled it at her sister’s head. Adelaide wasted no time in returning the favor.

Freesia, having a decent sense of self-preservation, leaped aside.

“Dear God,” Nathaniel whispered as he entered the room. “We should do something.”

Alice shoved a square of cake down the bodice of Adelaide’s dress.

“I would rather return to India’s sun and snakes than get between those two,” Nick said. “But you do as you must.”

Nathaniel wisely did not move.

Adelaide lunged for Alice, a cake in each hand. With a howl, they clashed together, smearing cake everywhere they could reach. Adelaide’s breasts and throat were covered in pink icing.

Sweet Jesus.

Nick buttoned his jacket.

“There’s something wrong with me,” Nathaniel muttered, his gaze riveted to the girls stumbling about the room. “I shouldn’t be enjoying this.”

“If I enjoy it any more, this jacket won’t be enough to hide it,” Nick said frankly.

Wessex joined them, saying nothing as he took in the spectacle.

“I was told there would be cake,” he said finally. “I had no idea it would be so…delicious.”

Two pairs of icy blue eyes turned to him.

Wessex smirked. Nick briefly considered how satisfying it would feel to knock that smirk off his face.